Founded as a contract programming firm in Atlanta, GA in 1963, MSA expanded into a range of businesses, including software products, during the 1960s. By 1971, the company was overextended and declared bankruptcy. John P. Imlay, Jr., brought in by the bank which was a major creditor, became CEO and effected a turnaround by focusing on software products. Ten years later, it was the largest application software company in the world. Products offered by MSA included a payroll system, an accounts payable system and other accounting applications.